Itty Bitty Beading

Remember how I'm not buying any more craft books as I have enough to stock a library? Well technically I didn't buy any more, but I did win some Amazon vouchers and one of the books I bought with them was 100 Beaded Treasures Trinkets and Charms.

I love this book! I got started at the weekend and soon got the hang of it. First up I made this wine bottle and glass to be a birthday card for Mr CA. The stem of the wine glass was tricky, but apart fro that this really is a simple craft (with simple motifs. I have plans to try French beaded flowers which look much more complicated) and I'd soon got it done. I decided not to make a card as I was running out of time and so just made a gift tag.

Even though it was his birthday yesterday, he hasn't seen it yet. I came back from Tunisia on Friday and he went away to work on site on Saturday, getting back this morning about 3am.

The next project is a champagne bottle (no different to the wine bottle!) and champagne flute. I need to make another flute, then this will be a congratulations card for my brother who just got engaged.

Last night I whipped up this daisy. It's a bit messy, but I quite like it. I didn't have any yellow beads of a good size to make the centre yellow. One thing I did find out is that if your seed beads are of various sizes, you have to adjust the number you use. It's not hard though.

Finally, I had to have a go at the little piggy. My mum loves pigs so it's for her. I took the book and my beads over on Sunday for dinner and was making the wine bottles. Mum was immediately intrigued and photocopied a couple of designs to give it a go. I bet she buys another beading book before the end of the week!

One thing that did perturb me... Reading the reviews of beading books on the Internet, it seems like this is a kid's craft... what do you think?

I'm famous!!

Ooh, ooh, I've been featured! Go and see my interview at The Crafty Network.  If you're based in the UK, you really need to follow this blog - loads of tips on selling and details of local craft fairs.  But enough of that, go and see my interview and post some comment love!

Déjà vu

I'm back! I survived!  I have no idea why the "I'm" at the beginning of the sentence looks like a link... try it, see where it goes.  Anyway, I could regale you with tales of snotgobbling taxi drivers and lack of coffee in hotels, but instead I'll start with a quick apology, and then move on to showing you things you've kind of seen before.  Wow, sounds, exciting doesn't it!

The apology: I'm weeks behind in my email replying.  You may have had a reply from an email sent the other day but not one weeks ago, that's because I've been randomly clicking and replying!  Secondly, I'm days behind on blog reading and my reader went mental at lunch and randomly started scrolling down and down and down, in the end I had to shut the computer down and I've lost a day or so of posts... and some of them looked really interesting as they were shooting past at the speed of light.  If there's anything I should have seen, let me know in the comments!  Let's see, May 23rd and 24th.

OK, on with the repeats!  A week or so ago I showed you my first attempt at a doily.  I've now blocked it and it looks... like a doily!  A real one!

I'm inordinately proud of it.  I've started the next and I'll show you soon as I've got to have it finished soon, I've been working on it for weeks.  I got back from Tunisia on Friday night and Mr CA went to site Saturday/Sunday.  To make up for him abandonning me and for leaving the house in a right state, I used his money to buy myself some flowers and put the doily underneath.

Excuse the backdrop of a pile of books.  They're to go on the higher shelves that I can't reach, even on the enormous ladder.  Being 5foot1 in a house with 13 feet ceilings can be a trial...

My second, third and fourth repeats are further versions of the coffee mat I made to go under my leaky coffee machine.  I used the same print fabric, one is backed with 2 face cloths sewn together, and for the other 2 I cut a tea towel in half.  I wanted to put a lace border on them.  This is the result.

When you try to be a smart-arse and mitre the corners of the lace, that's when you have to cut them open.  It doesn't work.  I know that's pretty obvious, but apparently not to me!

I tried a different method with the next one.  I rumpled the corners up and tacked them before sewing.  Yes, rumpling up is a technical term.

Hmm.  So that doesn't quite work either.  Never mind, they're to catch coffee drips, if the lace doesn't sit flat, it doesn't sit flat. 

The final one is lace free.  Even a disaster-merchant like me knows when to give in... sometimes.  I washed the original mat at the weekend and it came out the wash with the coffee stains still on.  So I washed it on 60 and put it in the tumble drier.  It's still in there.  I daren't look!

The green tea towel doesn't go perfectly with the mat, but who cares?  Below is a sideways picture of all three!

And finally, before I go away and do some work, a reminder about my competition.




Click here for the details.  You have until the end of June to make something out of something old along with something new.  There is a prize!  Please feel free to grab the button over on the right and help me spread the word.  I promise that if you do, I'll have loads of new disasters for you to laugh at... promise!

A short lesson on how to drive in Tunisia

1. Drive where ever you want, whenever you want.  Road got 2 lanes?  Feel free to drive down the middle.  Car where you want to go?  Don't worry, it'll move, probably.

2. If the car in front of you is not going fast enough, drive up directly about it, leaving approximately 6 inches between your bumpers, and flash your lights until the car moves.

3. Got a load of watermelons to move?  Want to take a couple of beds to your grandma's house?  No worries, strap them on top of your roof, loosely.

4. At traffic lights:

• Green = go
• Amber = go
• Red = go

5. Mobile phone ringing?  Answer it.  So what if you're doing 90 mph on the motorway whilst carrying out rule number 2?

6. Seat belt?  What's a seat belt?

The above rules apply to all road traffic from the nicest BMW to the oldest, most beat-up Lada and also include large lorries, tractors, horse-drawn carts and camels.  For motorbike or moped drivers, please see the following additional rules:

7. Crash helmets are for wimps.

8. Do not use your mirrors, ever.  In fact, it would probably be wise to remove them.

9. Want to suddenly pull out?  Don't look round, just go.

10. There must be at least 2 people on the motorcycle/moped at all times.  Carrying the following items is not mandatory, but is recommended:

• Large bags of watermelons
• A pane of glass
• 6 large bags of shopping
• A pushchair

For further best-practice rules regarding the riding of motorcycles/mopeds, please visit Ho Chi Minh City, you Tunisian's still have a lot to learn.

Against all odds, I've arrived safely in Tunis in preparation for my flight home tomorrow morning.  Things improved after Monday's post and I've really enjoyed myself, the time in the office not-withstanding!  The hotel here in Tunis is a bit of a letdown.  It's the size of my bathroom at the hotel in Sousse, there are no coffee-making facilities, in fact, there isn't even a glass!  I will somehow endure...

p.s. Reading some of the comments to Monday's post, I got the impression some of you thought I was writing a serious, pity-me post.  I don't do serious, or pity myself.  When bad things happen, I think about how funny it will sound when I tell people.  I'm glass-half full like that!  So don't worry, I was (and am) fine, just wanted to give you all a laugh at my expense.  I will try to have a disaster-ridden journey back home tomorrow so I can give you all another laugh.  And I might even post about crafts next week!

Bonsoiree tout le monde!

I have arrived.  I am currently sitting in my hotel room in Tunisia.  It has been a long day.


My taxi arrived at 7:30am to take me from Nottingham to London Heathrow.  In rush hour.

They have changed airports since I was last at one and you have to do some self-scanning of your passport.  I couldn't get it to work. 


I took so long choosing some perfume that I didn't have time to get anything to eat before getting on my quite crowded flight.

I was mistaken for a French person on the flight.  Read into this what you will.


The London-Paris flight was delayed and I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport 30 minutes before my next flight left.  It's a very big airport.  Very big.  It does not believe in informing its visitors.  I would estimate my walk from terminal 2E to terminal 2F to have been over a mile.  At high speed.  I did discover the only place you can smoke in the dreaded-by-smokers-airport, and couldn't stop as I was late. 

A French security officer shouted at me for having a nearly-empty bottle of diet Coke.  I had to throw it away and buy a new one.  French diet Coke is horrible.  It's very sweet.


My Paris-Tunis flight was delayed.  

I opened the little carton of milk for my coffee on the plane and it went all over the air steward's leg.  The back of his trousers.  He didn't notice.  I didn't tell him.  A better person than me would have.


I was mistaken for a French person.

The man next to me decided I didn't need the entire width of my seat and that his elbow would be particularly comfortable digging into my ribs.  For the entire 2 and a half hour flight.


The toilets at Tunis airport do not sport toilet paper.  Really.

The queue for immigration was incredibly long.  Especially as I was desperate to go to the toilet.  


It's bloody raining.  And windy.  Lightning, the lot.  They're having a heatwave in the UK.  You can all thank me as clearly I'm jinxed.


I got to my hotel, came up to the room and then decided to go down to dinner.  I went downstairs and chickened out of eating alone.  Me.  The person who moved to a foreign country alone.  The person who's been travelling alone - and ate out every night.  I'm a wimp.

I ordered room service.  She asked if I wanted my steak well-done or medium-well-done, clearly didn't mistake me for a French person then.  I couldn't think of the word for rare so said "avec du singe".


Singe means monkey.


She understood anyway and sent me a barely cooked steak.  Tunisia is a muslim country.  The meat is Halal.  Blood in meat is a very bad thing.  Way to go with the cultural sensitivity Wendy.


I can't find anything on TV, but I'm a bit lonely so need it for company.  I just watched 2 and a Half Men.  With subtitles.  I don't recommend it.  With or without subtitles.

Blogger, an off-shoot of Google, has decided that we have to use Google Chrome.  I refuse.
  

Well that will teach me to brag.


Help cheer me up, enter my competition.  That link might not work as it's put a .fr at the end of my blog address.  I'm not even in France, I'm in Africa.  It's the next post down.


Off to drown my sorrows with diet Coke, disgusting steak and foul potatoes and some bad American TV with Arabic subtitles.  It's either that or Arab X-Factor, in Arabic, with Simon Cowell, just dubbed.


Who did I upset??

Something Old, Something New.... Competition!

Good morning everyone. I've been threatening you for ages with a competition and now the time has finally arrived!  Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present...

I have very kindly been sent £10 worth of materials from Will at Abakhan.  The aim of the challenge is to use those £10 worth of new materials along with "old" materials that I have to produce an entirely new item and I want you to join in!

The Challenge
You do not have to go out and purchase new materials!  You can use materials from your stash, but just to be clear here - your stash counts as new.  Old materials include old clothes, old bedding, an old jumper you've frogged for the yarn, an old piece of furniture, anything you like!  As the emphasis is on combining old and new, I've set my limit for new materials at £10, you don't have to stick to this limit, I won't be coming round to check, but the idea is to not have "spent" too much (of new materials or from your stash" on this challenge -  I wouldn't want to see a full-size quilt of new fabric with a small patch of an old shirt for example.

The Prize
You have just over a month - the deadline for entries is 30th June 2012.  Deadline extended to the 31st July! There will be a prize.  As this is open to international readers and as the Royal Mail has just hiked up their prices, I've decided the best way to reward you and not them is by sending you a voucher to your choice of online shop.  The value will be £20 which is $30 US, €25, or 70 Papua New Guinian Kina. 

I can only do this in countries where I am allowed to purchase in your currency via the internet using Paypal, if not, I will send you a voucher for a UK or US shop.

The prize winner will be chosen by Mr Random-Org, so each project means 1 entry, you can enter as many times as you like. 

The Rules

1. It must have been made by you sometime between May 19th and July 31st

2. You must use "old" materials

3. You must use some new materials, but not excessive amounts

4. The deadline is midnight on 31h July 2012 UK time

5. The winner will be selected in the first week of August, I will email the winner so please make sure I have a way to contact you

6. Your item DOES NOT have to be sewn - you can use any craft medium from crochet and knitting to painting and drawing and anything in between

To Enter

Post a blog entry on your blog and put the link in the comments on THIS post, you must link back to this post in your entry.  If you do not have a blog, you can post a link to a Flikr photo-set, please write about your project under the photo.  No blog or Flickr?  Email me (click on "view my full profile" in the top left of this page and it will bring up a link to email me), but don't forget to leave a comment as this is where I'll take the prize winner from.

Here's a button for you to use. 

The lovely Pam has made me a grabbable button!! It's over there on the right hand side at the top, so please take one and display it on your blog to help me spread the word.

My Challenge
I will be playing along with you, though I won't be eligible to win!  So, here is what I'm starting out with, these are my new materials all supplied by Abakhan:

2m of denim drill, 2m of black satin binding and 2m of 6mm piping cord.  Below is a picture of my old, a ripped poof that I'm going to reupholster.  I will be adding some further old materials to this in the form of old clothes, but you'll have to wait and see what I do!

For a little inspiration, here's a Something Old, Something New... project I did last weekend.  A mat for my very messy, very drippy coffee machine.

Here's what I used to use, an old tea-towel.

I used a piece of this gorgeous coffee fabric, I've completely forgotten who makes it!  And 2 old face clothes that were still in a good condition, but were getting a little worn around the edges. 

It was very simple to make, I joined the two washclothes, cut off all the hems (I did try unpicking but it was a bit of a nightmare), cut the joined washcloth to the same size as the fabric and sewed them rightsides together.  I turned through and top stitched.  It measures about 20 x 10 inches.

I have another 3 in the making, using more washclothes and an old teatowel, but the construction got delayed as I had a bit of a lace "issue".  I'll post about it more when they're finished.

Much better!

So ladies and gentlemen, get your thinking caps on, grab some old material and some "new" and get creating.  Don't forget to comment here, one comment for each project, with a blog link, a Flickr link or a comment to say you've emailed me your project.  I'll show all emailed projects on my blog.

P.S. You can also leave a non-competition comment if you like, I'll only count the actual competition ones when I do the drawing.

  

pencil case

Only four days until I go to Tunisia and I have so much to do before I go!  For those of you who don't read and absorb my every word (that'll be everyone then!), I'm going to Tunisia for a week on business.  I'm quite looking forward to it as our company's factory is located in a seaside resort and it's summer out there.  Oh, and I get to stay in a very posh, very cheap, 5 star hotel with 4 swimming pools!

But you didn't drop by to hear me brag about that... (there are bad points to the trip too...).  A couple of weeks ago I showed you all my Zakka Style pencil case which I made as part of the Zakka Style Sew Along and which was not fit for purpose as my pencils were too long.  It's now my crochet hook case, but that didn't get me past the fact that I actually needed a pencil case.  I like to take pens, pencils, rubbers etc to glass class and I didn't have anything to store them in. 

So, did I find a nice tutorial or a pattern in one of my many, many, many craft books?  (Yes, I have added to the stash, but they were free!  I get Amazon vouchers for doing on-line surveys so it's perfectly legit!).  Nope, I winged it.  Or did I wung it?  As a former-English teacher I really should know that.

I started by making your standard zippy-pouch, but sewing it together at the ends like in the photo above.

I'd gone all Zakka-Stylie and used linen and some scraps of Bliss.  The long blue pieces are down to the fact my measurements were a little on the small side!

As usual, my points are appalling, but I really don't care, I like it anyway.  You can see in the top photo that this method of making a mid-zip pouch leaves raw seams on the inside. I didn't want to do that so I decided to pull out all the stops and bind the edges.

It's inside-out in the picture so you can see the very in-expert binding.

And if you look form the inside, you can just see it at the very end.  Now, I measured and calculated VERY carefully when I made this pouch to make sure that my pencils would fit.

Damn you freakishly large English pencils!!  How did it happen??  I was SO careful... But, not to worry, I came up with a solution:

Ta dah!

  

Not a beaded necklace

Morning ladies.  I did mean to post yesterday, but time got away with me.  I was planning on announcing my competition but due to technical issues, I wasn't able to sort out the button etc.  I'm planning on announcing the competition at the weekend.

Back in March I bought a beading kit from the NEC Hobbycrafts show.  I loved the necklace and decided I wanted to make it for myself.  I finally got round to it at the weekend and sat down to start.  I was watching Alcatraz at the same time and must have been riveted as I noticed I'd cut 4 of the headpins in the kit to the wrong size.  Never mind, I thought, I have head pins.  Except mine were too thick for the seed beads.  As it was the weekend I knew I could get some the next day so I thought I'd make something else.  I was in a beady mood so I got my books out and had a good leaf through, marking a few necklaces I'd like to make and a few little beaded objects. 

Then I crocheted a doily.

Attention deficit disorder?  Moi?  I used this pattern.  It's written in Portuguese.  I don't speak Portuguese but with a little googling and a little Word-Referencing, I got there. 

It's crocheted in crochet thread, Anchor Aida 6 ply thread to be exact, my first time using it.  It's currently blocking itself on a towel in my craft room, I just need to starch it and... well I have no idea what I'm going to do with it!

To see the scale, I've shown it in the photo above with my t-shirt yarn crochet rug (still incompleted), the tiny little 2mm hook I used and the massive 15mm hook I'm using for the rug.

I enjoyed making this doily so much, I started another almost straight away.  I'm up to round 6 on this pattern but I'm using the recommended hook - size 4.5mm with the crochet thread and I really don't like how big and loose my chains are, so I'm going to start again and use the 2mm hook again.  Are any of you experiences doily makers?  What would you suggest?

I'm so hooked that I've been rooting out more patterns to take with me on the plane to Tunisia next week.  I need something to crochet that's just one colour (as I can't take scissors) and not as big and heavy as the crochet rug so doilies it is.  I looked online for some crochet thread and found Anchor Perle Cotton in size 8.  Now I've used this for hand quilting, but I didn't know if it was the same things as crochet thread.  Incidentally, it's 65p a ball including postage if anyone is in the market for some.  Ebay shop.  I can't vouch for them as I've never used this particular company, but if anyone does, please let me know!  I've left it too later really to arrive before I leave on Monday, so I'll be doing a quick raid on Hobbycraft where a ball is £3.95 - hence my interest in whether I can substitute the size 8 Perle.  Any and all comments on this subject are welcome as I'm a doily novice!

I wonder what Mr CA will say when I get home with a suitcase full of doilies... and again, what am I going to do with them??

Edited to add: Well, I've just discovered one of the problems.  The lovely Teresa sent me a link to crochet hook conversion chart and I realised that I'd been using a UK size 7 hook!  There's a massive difference.  I'll be ripping it out soon!
  

A story with a sad ending - part 2

Good afternoon ladies.  Well, I seem to have eaten my own bodyweight in food this weekend.  Ooops...  I should probably go and do some exercise to burn it of... or I could sit here looking at blogs and eating chocolate.  What do you say?  Yes, you're right, it is Sunday evening and clearly the best course of action is to carry on eating so my body won't think that I'm starving and start conserving the pounds.  Let the eating continue!

Anyway, what did I come over here to write about, I don't think it was my flabby bum... Oh yes, that was it, glass.  So, this Wednesday will be week 4 of my glass class.  I showed you my design for the panel above my door, well I started working on it last week.  I cut some base glass for the fusing and started cutting the coloured glass but, apart from cutting myself twice in almost the same place and not even noticing, I didn't get much done.  I was going to take photos for you but it's just pieces of glass and I didn't think you would be interested. 

I thought you might be interested in seeing what I did in my first week though?  I made a fused glass bowl by layering smashed pieces of blue and purple glass on a white base piece and putting it into a round form before putting it in the kiln.  I collected it on Wednesday...

... and dropped it on the floor last night.  Before I'd even photographed it.  Remember Mr CA dropped my copper foiled suncatcher?  Not having much luck am I?  I'm starting to think it doesn't look good for my rather large, time and effort-intensive door panel.

Ah well, in for a penny... thought you might like to see the smashed suncatcher too:

Right, I'm off to cry in a corner, speak to you in the week.

Super J and Chocolate

No, don't get excited, it's not a chocolate giveaway.  If I had any chocolate (and unfortunately I don't) I'd be scoffing it right now.  I am still dieting (got my stone last week) but I'm also kind of eating chocolate too...  To find out what the chocolate reference is, you'll have to scroll down.

Above is a bought onesie that I added an appliqué J to for Jacob, my nephew.  The fabric was one of the scraps from the scrap pack I bought from  Prints to Polka Dots.  I thought it would be perfect for this very use.

I stuck it on with Heat 'n' Bond and then did a zig zag stitch around it in blue thread.  I put the Stitch and Tear on the reverse, but my machine wasn't happy.  Can you see the skipped stitches in the photo below?  Not sure what that's about... any suggestions?

My brother loves his t-shirts.  He has loads and when I saw this tutorial for converting an adult t-shirt into a baby shortall, I had to give it a go.  He gave me three old t-shirts to use.  As usual, I dived right in...  I started by sewing the neck and all was going well.

But then it all went to pot!  I was using the correct needle and being very careful but my stitching was all over the place and to be honest, I think the pattern was a bit too advanced for me as I really struggled to understand what she meant a lot of the time.  I persevered, despite having to unsew and resew the sleeve and side seam of one side 3 times!

Unfortunately I lost half the C and E in sewing...  My brother reports back that it fits him (the pattern is for a 6 - 9 month baby and Jacob is 10 weeks!) but it's a bit slim round the chest.  I'll remedy that with the next one.

It's a very funny shape at the top due to the pattern parts not matching up after the sleeves are sewn on... I'm not sure why but the tutorial showed this problem too.  I'm going to re-draft that part of the pattern.  Check me out!  I've made 2 pairs of baby trousers and one short-all and I already think I'm a fashion designer!

My biggest problem by far was the snaps.  I hate the bloody things but didn't feel up to doing button holes, plus I was running out of time as I wanted to send it down with my parents when they visited last weekend.  I had a go with my plastic snaps, but they don't work with my pliers!  I'd run out of the metal snaps and so resorted to these sew-on ones.  I sewed them on on the machine.  They look bloody awful.

I'm going to have to seek out the proper equipment before I start the next 2 shortalls.

It doesn't look too bad done up and Jacob looks gorgeous in it!
I'm really looking forward to the weekend.  The week of the 21st I'm going to Tunisia on business (potential burglars!  Mr CA will still be there and he's the one you don't want to mess with) so I may have to get started on the Zakka Style week 9 project which is the messenger bag.  I also need to go to the tip but I don't think I'll blog about that!